metta through commotion

with lots of crafting along the way

Recent Entries

Hi! I may have subscribed to your journal because you wrote something interesting that showed up while I was browsing dreamwidth or reading my network page. Perhaps you're reading this because you think I wrote something of note. Either way, welcome.

I try to avoid hate speech of any kind on my journal. If I slip up and say something heedless of my own privilege, please tell me - in a non-flaming way. These are teachable moments, not times to whack people over the head with a newspaper.

I could list an alphabet soup of identities, but suffice it to say that( Read more... )

FYI: If very literal interpretations of the Garden of Eden/Original Sin are very important to you and your sense of being, probably don't read the following. If however you are open to "[religious text] may be more of an allegory than the literal truth", then maybe we can talk about some thoughts I just had while showering with intense PMS. Also be forewarned, most of my Biblical knowledge is based on several Children's Bibles, a sister who co-majored in Religion, religious friends, and stuff I picked up in history classes on the Protestant/Catholic split.

a cosmo-esque article written in the style of "how the news media writes about female celebrities"...written about tony stark (and bruce banner). i am very excited!

so just going to throw out a plotbunny if anyone wants to write such an article about any of the *other* Avengers (or Nick Fury! omg!), or perhaps write a story about say Black Widow or Scarlet Witch written in the style of magazines/news articles about dudes.

I am teaching my cats how to jump through a hula hoop. Steps completed so far: acquire hula hoop; remove things that cause hula hoop to make noise; show cats hula hoop is not a portal to the dungeon dimension; show cats treats fall from the sky when they go in hula hoop on ground; show cats that treats fall from the sky when they walk through upright hula hoop. Surprisingly (because I was certain the dungeon dimension step would throw him for longer), Chance is progressing faster than Lily thus far. She's learning from watching him. My main struggle atm is juggling hula hoop, target stick, clicker, treat bag, and cats demanding treats.

Heartily recommend Switched at Birth. The plotline is all *mega drama* over the top a la Telenova (but maybe not so over the top, judging by some of my family?) But the awesome is they deal really well with so many actually important issues! Like teenage young women wanting to have sex, and so far *there is no slut-shaming* or parents moralizing, only "are you sure that person is the right person to sleep with?" and "so, you do know about protection?" and "sleeping with him won't let you change his behavior." WHAT SORCERY, ABC FAMILY. Also, there are multiple Deaf characters and as the show progresses and more Hearing characters learn sign there is more and more sign in the show. And a lot of time when people are signing, unless it's like some pivotal romantic moment, there's no filler background soundtrack. Just silence (sometimes for effect) or standard traffic noise or something. They also deal amazingly well with single moms, white privilege, class issues, white guilt, white savior syndrome, Latin@ identity issues, alcoholism...like, they're not perfect but WHAT SORCERY IS THIS.

I actually want to list more, but my partner and my cats want to spend time with me so I'm gonna do that. <3

[just going to apologize now, there are going to be a number of moving-related posts in the coming weeks. but hopefully that will result in moving and that will be exciting and result in less ambient stress as well, so. please bear with me. ♥ ♥ ♥]

my partner is selling her schmancy touring bike in preparation for our move. if you are looking for a bike in the DC-metro area (or nearby metropolises) and would like to help support us in the move, here are the specs:

Bike: Surly Long Haul Trucker (2012; Super Dark Green) Size: 56cm frame for 700c wheels Selling Price: $1,000.00 Components: All stock components as listed in the catalog (http://surlybikes.com/uploads/downloads/8230_SUR_2012_web2.pdf), with one exception. The cassette (aka cog/cogset) is [11-12-14-16-18-21-24-28-32t] and NOT [11-13-15-17-20-23-26-30-34t]. History: The bike has been lovingly cared for (stored indoors when not in use; cleaned after long rides; maintained to prevent undue wear), and while some wear is appearent (the odd scuff here and there, the handlebar tape reinforced when torn, and so on) the bike is effectively like new with lots of life left in the consumable components.

The pattern takes a size 7 needle. Going through the roll, you have all but a 7. 1,2,3,4,5,6,8,9,10,10.5,11,12,13. There is no 7. You change patterns. The pattern takes a size 5 needle. Going through the roll, you have all but a 5. 1,2,3,4,6,7,8,9,10,10.5,11,12,13. There is no 5.

Also, throwback...Wednesday? The flash version of this spoof on "Windows Real Good (RG) Edition" isn't working for me because Adobe stopped supporting flash and ruined Glitch, but someone took a Youtube video of it in all its glory.

I got to this comic via the comments section of the Bloggess, and was scolded for shrieking loudly with laughter last night when other people might be trying to sleep. I was also told I upset the cats with my strange human mouth noises. I...honestly there are a lot of great ones.

tSo partner I were talking about the whole hacking fiasco of late, and how people freak out but as an individual there are limited things you can do about how securely other people store the data they have about you.

Then we were talking about 1950s/1960s government PSA movies about nuclear bombs and all the reassuring-but-not-useful advice they gave, like "let's practice getting under our desks in case of a nuclear bomb" (which will do fuck-all) or "put duct tape on your windows" (also not really that helpful against a nuclear bomb). But it means you are doing something and is psychologically helpful!

If you have seen The Big Snit (if not stop watching this and go watch it, it's less than 10 minutes and is brilliant), then you are familiar with the advice given there like bits about going under a refrigerator (I forget whether or not that was recommended).

So we came up with a spoof-y list of Things To Do To Improve Your Network Security along those lines. Please note I am NOT actually recommending ANY of these things:

As we all know, the internet is a series of tubes. Therefore it is possible there are unsecured tubes entering your house which could be disguised as pipes or even dining straws. Search your house for any unsecured tubes and either dispose of them (preferred) or wrap them in aluminum foil.

Place a protective wind-chime made of old AOL disks outside your home. This will make hackers think that you are running a slow internet connection, and discourage them from trying to access your home network.

Did you know that your router's firewall is not fully effective until it has been tried by fire? Throw your router over an open flame. If it survives, it is worthy of protecting your home. If not, you have a bad router and need to replace it with a new one. Complain loudly on the forums of the original router's manufacturer about their ill-made routers.

Hackers are less likely to attack your computer if it is slow and annoying. The safest computer to use is one which needs to be restarted at least every half hour, and takes at least a minute to load a simple page.

We all know that the internet is run by a Shadow Council of cat lords. Therefore, the more CATs you have on your ethernet cable, the better protected you will be. Are you using a CAT 5 cable? You have angered the Shadow Council, and must pay penance by donating to cat rescue, feeding feral cats, or better yet adopting your own Cat Lord to protect your house!

Sometimes cats (being lords of the internet) can sense incoming hacker threats. Therefore when your cat is walking on your keyboard, head-butting your hand away from your mouse, or otherwise interrupting you at the computer YOU COULD BE BEING HACKED RIGHT THEN. The correct solution is to immediately turn off your computer and pay homage to your wise cat lord with food and attention.

Hackers are less likely to hack into your computer when you are watching cat videos on YouTube or looking at cute cat memes, which are ways of paying homage to the Shadow Council. It is wise to partake of these activities several times a day, just to be safe.

If your identity has been stolen, then you need to change your identity right away. Do you have a spare passport ready? Another home or safe house to go to? Be prepared to run. Ideally, your new name will make some reference to famous cats such as Grumpy or Cheezeburger. Then the hackers will know you are under protection of the Shadow Council and stay away.

Do you have ridiculous suggestions for protecting yourself from hackers? Pleaes share in comments! I could use a laugh. :D

I miss having a meatspace community. In high school I managed to have several I would hop between, though I never quite fit into any of them. I know post-school socialing is different for a lot of people, because it's not like there are a bazillion clubs or things to choose from and many people are focused on jobs/making ends meet/romance rather than Hi I Am Also New Let's Try Being Friends!

Here are things that would make it so much easier for me as a person with a disability to spend time with you, whether or not you have health issues (the same as me or otherwise):( Read more... )

tl;dr. Do you want to hang with me? It comes with a side of "managing chronic pain and fatigue" and dark humor about bodies that don't cooperate the way I want them to. I might have to press the "abort" button on our plans earlier than either of us realized, and I know that is disappointed for everyone and extra work. But guess what? That means you get to press the "abort" button when you need to, no questions asked.

I still think I'm a lot of fun -- especially if we share a fandom -- and great at including people.

so I totally haven't set up those new filters yet because I made that poll and then basically packed and hopped in a car with three cats for 12 hours and now have been unkinking my body and getting cats adjusted to NEW. (They are doing really, really well. More on that...some other time.)

At the risk of spamming everyone's feeds today (hi, I haz been posting a lot in lots of places!), I keep hearing that Jane the Virgin is good but I have no idea what it's about (in like a short non-spoilery way) or if there's any really obvious triggers I should know about (the first scene starts with someone being assaulted/murdered/mainsplained to).

Hi! I am trying to do things like maybe be in not-pj's and entertain my cats so they don't dance on the keyboard and maybe get my tires aligned and also make sure I add people from the friending meme while keeping track of my overflowing inbox. This is a general welcome-y post because I don't think I have brains at the moment for individual comments of "yes you also sound awesome and I am adding you back!"

Based on some conversations I've had with jelazakazone and others, and because it's puppy/kitten season right now and there are a lot of cute adoptable animals who need homes. (Our local shelter is so overrun with kittens they stop taking in older cats for a month or two because kittens are easier to move in and out, and often they just waive or greatly reduce cat adoption fees. That is how many cats they have.)

tl;dr Dogs are work, because they rely pretty much totally on you for their care: food, health, access to the bathroom and fresh water, certain forms of entertainment, getting to see other dogs. They can be little butts about certain things, especially if you haven't trained them that "begging at the table doesn't mean treats." OTOH having a dog in your life can be really super rewarding, you just have to decide: am I willing to put in the time, effort and money to reap the rewards of having a dog around? Or does that payoff not feel enough for me? Because if not, you're not going to want to walk your dog or do the training, they will get bored and frustrated and destructive, and no one will end up happy with the situation.

note: feel free to link, but please keep it linked to this username not the one I have on twitter or legal nameAnyone else have any thoughts or insights on the subject?

jadelennox is hosting a friending meme. Maybe you don't have spoons, you have no more time for reading more people, or even new internet people are scary right now. That is all cool! But if you want, you can check the meme out.

Hey! Partner took a bunch of photos of cats and I finally snagged them from her Smaug-like-hoard and put them on Flickr but I haven't arranged the set yet so be warned the newest ones are all at the bottom. (Well, some of them. There were LOTS and also some duplicates.)

If you want to see them, here is the Flickr set and also I'm putting one of Lily begging here. We taught it to Chance as a trick, she learned it from him, and now she will spontaneously do things like tap your hand with her paw and you look down and she's doing this:

Lily standing on her hind paws and "begging" for food, which is a very effective strategy because it's irresistibly cute.

Her expression says, "Look into my eyes! Please madam, I want some more...I was a poor starving orphan cat...in my eyes you can see all the hunger and longing and love of the universe...now you have an urge to feed meeee..."